Rays of Hope
by stainedglassmasquerade
Summary: Tenth Doctor. What happens when the Doctor is forced to leave Martha behind just as he did Rose? Will he be able to cope? A new friend and a new adventure always help things! Read and Review!
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Ok, so I'm going to strike out into new territory with a Doctor Who story. It may seem a bit undoctor-like at first, but not for long, I promise. As I've said, this is my first Doctor Who fic, so be kind, but reviews are always welcome! I hope you enjoy, and review, review, review!! It makes me want to write more. Thanks!_

* * *

The walls of the TARDIS surrounded him like always, but it was anything but home. He was alone, again. Martha was gone, he'd taken her home, afraid that she would end up like Rose and he couldn't deal with that. He didn't want to take another companion, even if it meant he would be alone, forever. Alone, that's what he was. Sure he'd been alone many times in his 900 years, but this was different. He felt empty, lifeless; the only thing that kept him moving about the universe was his duty as the last of the time lords. 

His head throbbed and he took it in his hands, running his fingers through his messy brown hair. It still irked him that it wasn't ginger, he'd been hoping for ginger, but that was behind him now. Now, he had other things to worry about, other things to occupy his mind. He missed Rose terribly and had since he'd left her, and now he missed Martha too. This was why he didn't want to take another companion, it hurt too much.

When he'd lost Rose, his two hearts felt as though they were being torn from his body, he'd wanted to die. He'd wished for death, wished that he could die, but he couldn't even do that right, all he could do was regenerate. Regenerate and continue living, and for what? To save the universe, save the universe? Let it sod off for all he cared.

He sighed, shaking his head as he surveyed the interior of the TARDIS. He couldn't do that, he couldn't let the universe destroy itself-he had a duty. He had a duty to his people, as the last of the time lords, to protect the universe from whatever might try to annihilate it.

A few angry noises from the TARDIS woke the Doctor from his reverie. He looked up through cloudy brown eyes, moving a few stray pieces of hair out of his line of sight, and groaned. Sometimes he hated being telepathic.

'Not now, not now, anytime but now…' He thought, running his hands over his cheeks in frustration. Some more blips and whirrs were his answer.

The Doctor sighed, knowing what he had to do. 'All right, fine, I'm going. _We're_ going, but where to now?' A couple more noises.

'America? It would be America.' He groaned, moving over to the center console and entering the coordinates. After pulling a few more levers and hitting a couple more buttons he was on his way.

* * *

_A/N: All right, so that was it, what do you think? Please review!! _More to come!!! 


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Ok, well only one person reviewed (thank you Adali) but I figured I'd add the next bit anyways. I realize that the first chapter was very short and somewhat dull, I'm sorry for that. This chapter is longer and hopefully more interesting. Please review! It brings a little happiness to my day. Thanks!_

* * *

By the time the TARDIS came to a stop in America, the Doctor had composed himself, or at least had tried to. His hair was a bit more together, but still held that semi-disheveled look that was his trademark; his clothing had been changed, he now wore a freshly pressed suit and his trench coat; but his eyes betrayed him. His eyes showed all the hurt and the sadness he held inside.

He ran his hands through his hair once more, letting out a sigh as he began moving towards the door. Before exiting, he checked his pockets, making sure he had his sonic screwdriver and psychic paper. The doors of the TARDIS clicked shut behind him and he surveyed his surroundings. Skyscrapers, yellow taxi cabs, and thousands of people rushing from one place to another. New York City, definitely, but where was the crisis? He looked around, racking his brain for an answer, trying to make sense of why the TARDIS had brought him here.

As his eyes scanned the city once more, the Doctor shook his head and began to move back to his 'Police Box'. He then stuck out a hand to open the door but was shocked when it didn't open, strange. The key was warm in his hand as he took it out and put it into the lock, still nothing.

'Come on girl, let me in. What's the matter?' The Doctor thought, jiggling the key once more.

'Excuse me? Who's the Time Lord here? Let me inside.'

'TARDIS, I'm ordering you…' He was cut off by an angry buzzing noise.

'Wait! You can't just leave me out here. 'It buzzed angrily again.

'Three hours? You're going to leave me out here for three hours, even when there is no particular reason for me to be here?'

'Fine, fine, three hours…' He stuck the key back in his pocket, moving off. 'I can survive in New York for three hours…'

* * *

"Bloody machine…bloody _female_ machine." The Doctor almost growled to himself as he sauntered around the streets of New York. He had his hands shoved in the pockets of his jacket as he walked, his ears picking up on the soft patting noise of his converse on the concrete.

"Three hours, what am I supposed to do for _three hours_?" He grumbled, looking down at his feet, not paying attention to where he was going.

"Trying not to run into scaffolding would be a start." A voice beside him said. The owner of the voice grabbed onto his arm, pulling him to a stop just short of said scaffolding.

The Doctor looked up to see the smiling face of a woman, a native New Yorker judging by her accent. He moved his eyes to the hand on his arm, noticing her pale peach skin and long slender fingers. As he brought his eyes up to study her face once more, he forced a smile.

"Sorry, not myself today. But thank you for saving me from a very embarrassing situation." He replied, somewhat distracted by his thoughts.

"Not to mention a somewhat painful one." She smiled back at him, not failing to notice the pain in his eyes. She dropped her hand back to her side and cocked her head slightly, trying to figure out what to make of this stranger.

His hearts leaped slightly at her smile, it was like no other smile he'd ever seen, completely genuine and entirely infectious. Soon he found himself smiling, much more realistically than before. He wasn't sure what it was about this woman that made him forget his troubles, but he was thankful, very thankful for her.

She stuck out her hand, the smile never leaving her face. "I'm Kim. Kimberly Howell, pleasure to meet you."

"The Doctor, err…John, Doctor John Smith." He quickly corrected himself, starting to wonder about himself.

"A Doctor, eh? You don't look like a Doctor, but look who's talking." Kim laughed, "I'm an actress, performer, woman of all trades…in case you were wondering."

"I was. Thank you." The Doctor replied, unable to rid himself of a goofy smile that was now plastered on his face. He still wasn't sure why he was acting this way, and what it was about Kim that made him feel so much better, made him forget about…everything, but he wasn't complaining. Actually, this seemed quite a pleasant way to spend three hours.

"So, Doctor. Where are you from?" She queried, looking at him eagerly.

"What?" He wrinkled his brow, looking at her thin face.

"_W__here are you from?_ It's obvious you aren't from here, with an accent like that."

"Oh, yes, right. Sorry, as I said before, I'm not myself today. But I'm from," He paused in thought, he couldn't tell her where he was really from, or could he? "England, London to be exact…" He was going to continue to ramble on, but was cut off by his companion.

"London? Oh, that's wonderful! I love London; I'd spend forever there if I could. As a matter of fact, I spent quite some time there last year, appearing in a musical in the West End. Do you ever take in any theatre?" Kim was practically bouncing with excitement as she spoke.

"I'm afraid not, normally I'm too busy saving the world." The Doctor replied haphazardly. Luckily for him she thought he was being metaphorical.

"Work-a-holic then? Too bad, theatre really is a great way to escape from yourself." She stated easily, nodding her head slightly.

"So I've heard…" He let his voice trail off as he studied this woman, still trying to figure out why he felt so comfortable around her, or why he felt the need to keep talking to her.

"Well, "She sighed, looking down momentarily, "I suppose I've taken up enough of your time. I'm sure you've got something much more important to do than stand here and talk to me all day."

"Actually, no." He answered, looking up with a smile, feeling happier than he had in a long time. Something inside him screamed out, telling him to not let her go. "Would you care for some lunch?"

The Doctor had flashed her one of his most heart-melting smiles and it didn't go unnoticed. Kim returned the smile and chuckled lightly. "I know this great little place four blocks over, amazing burgers, you do eat meat, don't you? Well, even so, they also have great soup and sides…" She began to ramble on, sliding her arm into his and moving off.

The Doctor couldn't help but laugh, it appeared that he'd finally found someone that talked more than he did, and he didn't mind at all.

* * *

_A/N: Well, that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed it. Please review! _


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: All right, I've rewritten this part like three times so I hope you enjoy it. I also hope you realize what difficulties i went through to get this posted...I'm not sitting at a coffee shop to get online since my internet at home is currently not working. You better love me, sooo...review!_

* * *

As they sat at the little corner café, The Doctor couldn't help but stare at Kim. For one, she was beautiful, dark blonde hair and gray blue eyes; and her smile was brilliant. But his attraction was much more than a physical one, he enjoyed talking to her, listening to her talk, being in her company. He still didn't know why he trusted her, but he did. She was like no one he'd ever met before, and that was saying something because as a Time Lord he'd met some pretty colorful people. He took a bite of his sandwich and continued to listen as she rambled on, now understanding what it must be like to travel with himself.

"So I moved to New York. The small town life just wasn't conducive to an acting career. I missed my family, sure, but they're all gone now." And at that her face visibly saddened for the first time since they'd met. "A fire took my parents four years ago, and three months later my brother died in a car accident, I'm completely alone."

"I understand completely, more than you'll ever know." The Doctor replied tenderness and caring in his voice, as well as sadness.

Kim could tell by the tone of his voice and the look in his eyes that he wouldn't say anymore, at least not now. She nodded in understanding and took a sip of her soda, sighing lightly.

"Enough about me though, tell me about yourself." The sad Kim had vanished and the energetic, friendly one returned. She sat forward, visibly making an effort to show her interest.

"I…travel, quite a bit, here and there, alone recently, but not always." He was struggling for more words but came up short, a new problem for him. Something inside him wanted to tell her the truth, but he hesitated, deciding against it for the time being.

"All those Doctor duties I assume." Kim smiled, her blue gray eyes sparkling up at him from across the table.

"Yes, yes." The Doctor replied, nodding slightly as he took a sip of his tea.

"Is that all, you travel? No friends, no family, no love interests?" She questioned.

Her questions struck him like a knife, memories of his people and his world returning, and more painfully, memories of Rose. She saw the hurt in his eyes and immediately regretted asking, but the sound an explosion rang out through the streets before she could apologize.

"What on earth…?" She muttered, turning to look out the window behind her

Instead of answering, the Doctor stood, rushing over to the window, his face plastered to the glass. His eyes scanned the street and saw nothing, but in the distance smoke began to rise. He turned to say something to Kim, but she was already halfway out the door. Quickly, he followed her out onto the pavement that was slowly becoming more crowded with curious onlookers. He surveyed the horizon once more before he spoke.

"That way, what is it?" The Doctor pointed towards the smoke, his rich brown eyes fixed on Kim's lighter ones.

"Uh, if you go that way for a while you'll reach…_The Statue of Liberty_." A sinking feeling automatically appeared in her stomach. She had been in New York during the attack on the Trader Centers and her mind suddenly raced, fear overwhelming her.

Without a reply the Doctor took of in the direction of the billowing smoke and sirens that now pierced the air. He only looked back when he heard Kim call out.

"Where are you going?" She shouted, stepping towards him.

"To The Statue of Liberty, I want to know what happened, and there's no better place to get the facts than at the scene of the crime." He had fully come to life now, adrenaline coursing through his veins.

"You're not going without me." Kim stated blatantly, coming up alongside him. "But it'll take forever by foot. Come on." She grabbed his hand, pulling him onto the sidewalk.

"What? Where are we going? We're going the wrong direction!" He exclaimed, pointing back towards the smoke filled sky.

"Subway." She lightly grinned, leading on. Some of his excitement seemed contagious and she was suddenly thrilled to be on her way.

"Now's not the time to be thinking of food, we have a crisis on and you're taking me to…oh, you're taking me to _the_ subway, not the restaurant." Sometimes he could be so thick, but he made her laugh.

"Yes, now come on. It's almost 12:45; there should be a train any time now." Then she took off, her slender hand still clutching his larger one, a look of determination set on both faces.


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: Ok, I'm sorry it's been so long but I had a few technical difficulties. I recently got a laptop and that's where I stored this story, but I never got it saved to my flashdrive and the computer malfunctioned. I got a new laptop which works perfectly but I lost all of the rest of my story. I've been rewriting and am finally caught up. So, I hope you enjoy!!! And review!!!_

* * *

The duo raced down the stairs to the subway station, heading underground. Kim still held the Doctor's hand and started to pull him towards the ticket center but he had other ideas. Suddenly, he was in control again and hurrying towards the gates. As they reached the closed gates, void of tickets, the Doctor fumbled in his coat pocket for something.

"What are you doing? We need tickets; we can't just hop the gates!" Kim exclaimed, letting go of his hand.

"Don't need a ticket, I've got something better." He beamed, a mischievous, cocky grin, and triumphantly held up the device he'd been frantically searching for.

Kim looked at him skeptically, beginning to wonder if he was insane. She took a step back, just for safety's sake.

The Doctor pointed the object at the gates and it lit up, glowing blue and producing an odd humming sound. Miraculously the gates swung open and he grabbed her hand, pulling both of them through before the gates swung closed again.

"What was that?!" She asked, being drug behind him as he returned the device to its pocket.

"Sonic screwdriver, brilliant piece of machinery, does almost anything, and I do say _almost_. It doesn't kill, doesn't wound, doesn't maim, but other than that? Presto change-o! Works like a charm." He flashed another trademark grin, having finished rambling on for the time being.

"Sonic…screwdriver? Who needs a sonic _screwdriver_? And what do you mean by sonic?" Kim was full of questions, suddenly verbose again, taking a step towards him once they were settled on the train.

"Just what I said, sonic. It's a product of the 51st century, but I'm quite fond of it, works fantastically in a pinch." He was saying all this as if it were common knowledge.

"51st century? How can it be a product of the 51st century when we're only living in the 21st? Oh my God! You're…you're an alien! Aren't you?" Realization suddenly dawned on the human.

"In the flesh, well, not literally…except for that one time…no, no quite literally. Yes! I'm an alien!" Another wide grin adorned his face.

For a second Kim's eyes widened, her mind trying to work out whether she should run (if there were anywhere to run to), if she should scream (but who would hear her?), or if she should simply accept it. She finally settled for the latter. Her deliberation may have felt long, but in reality it had only taken a few seconds and before she could really think out every outcome she returned his smile.

"All right, so you're an alien. I can deal with that, I think. What kind of alien? Martian? Moon man? Oh my God! Are you from Jupiter?" Now she was acting a little childish, laughing out loud.

"No, as a matter of fact I'm Gallifreyian, a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey." The Doctor said, sticking his chin out proudly.

"Time Lord?" Kim asked, but before he could answer the train stopped and he reached for her hand. She grabbed on and was suddenly hurtling through the subway station again, heading for the surface.

"Later!" He managed to shout back at her before they surfaced, coming to a sudden stop. "Oh, sweet Rassilon."

* * *

_Review!!! Much Love!_


End file.
